Türkiye’s parliament receives first criminal regulation on AI-generated content

On 5 December 2025, Türkiye took its first legislative step towards criminal regulation of AI-generated content with the submission to parliament of a Draft Law proposing amendments to Law No. 5651 on the Regulation of Publications on the Internet.

The preamble of the Draft Law states that AI-generated fake content manipulates public perception, poses threats to public order and security, creates information pollution in political processes, and triggers fear, panic and misguidance among the public.

The absence of an explicit labelling requirement for such content under the current legislation further exacerbates these risks. The proposed amendment is intended to strengthen information security, protect society from misleading content, and reinforce the public’s right to access accurate information.

Under the Draft Law, content providers will be required to indicate clearly – through a visible sign, logo or written notice – if any content generated using AI has been produced in this manner. While introducing a mandatory labelling obligation for AI-generated content, the Draft Law also associates the dissemination of unlabelled AI-generated content with the offence of “Publicly Disseminating Misleading Information” under Article 217/A of the Turkish Criminal Code.

Failure to comply with the labelling requirement may lead to criminal liability for content providers with penalties of imprisonment from one to three years. When committing an offence if an individual conceals their true identity or if this concealment occurs within the framework of an organisation’s activities, the penalty imposed will be increased by 50 percent.

If adopted, the Draft Law will oblige content providers to clearly disclose the use of AI in all relevant content. Non-compliance would not only subject unlabelled AI-generated content to removal requests but may also result in criminal investigations. This amendment would mark a significant shift in Türkiye’s approach by moving from soft-law guidance on AI transparency towards enforceable legal accountability for content providers.

For more information on the Draft Law and its potential implications for AI-generated content regulation in Türkiye, contact the experts who wrote this article: alican.babalioglu@ybk-av.com, melis.celik@ybk-av.com, and ezgi.bahar@ybk-av.com.